[Rarebooks] fa: SHAKSPERIANA 1827 in ORIGINAL BOARDS - First Shakespeare Bibliography

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending MONDAY, May 28. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/btsuvun

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


[John Wilson:] Shaksperiana. Catalogue of all the Books, Pamphlets, &c. Relating to Shakspeare. To Which are Subjoined, an Account of the Early Quarto Editions of the Great Dramatist's Plays and Poems, the Prices at Which Many Copies Have Sold in Public Sale; Together With a List of the Leading and Esteemed Editions of Shakspeare's Collected Works. London: Printed for John Wilson,  1827. FIRST EDITION. Slim 8vo (20 cm) in original publisher's paper-covered boards with printed label to the front cover; xli + [1] + 69 + [1] pp.

First edition of what is considered the first distinct attempt at a comprehensive Shakespeare bibliography. In addition to describing Shakespeare first editions, editions of collected works, and works about him, the author also discusses many of the spurious portraits of the Bard.

Handsomely printed, untrimmed in the original boards. Modest wear and bumping to the corners, light soiling to the boards, front and rear joints professionally repaired; faint stain to fore-edge of the front endpaper and title-page, a touch of darkening/dust-soiling to the edges  of the leaves; otherwise very clean and fresh, firmly bound. A nice copy. One word has been inked out on p. xxxvii of the preface; as we've seen more than one copy with this same word similarly excised, we suspect the correction may have been done by the author/publisher himself before the books were sold. Early/contemporary owner signatures of R. Mantete[?]. A contemporary pencil portrait of an unidentified man is affixed to the front paste-down; the hand-written captions read: "sketched by L.C. from life" and "B.S.[?] about the year 1830-1. obit. 1833." Perhaps worthy of further research..?